Regents meet Thursday to discuss UT system future

The University of Texas System's regents plan to discuss the system's vision and mission along with past, current and future budgets in an open session hearing on Thursday afternoon.

The conversation comes as Chancellor William McRaven enters the last six months of his three-year contract. The retired Navy admiral's vision for the state's largest higher education system has been scrutinized publicly after Gov. Greg Abbott tapped two regents in January who criticized McRaven's plan to expand the system further into Houston.

In Wednesday's open session, regents received a detailed breakdown of the system's budget. Administrators explained initiatives' costs and potential savings, and regents asked pointed questions on how specific initiatives help UT's academic and health institutions.

McRaven's three-year contract – the first awarded to a UT chancellor – expires at the end of the year. The chancellor would not say in June whether he wants to remain at the helm of the system, acknowledging that he needs to determine whether his view on the best direction for UT aligns with the board's.

His vision for large-scale initiatives run out of UT's system once garnered overwhelming board approval when he first introduced it in November 2015.